Winning at life: Dubuque native Luke Stoffel to return for signing, reading of debut memoir

BY MEGAN GLOSS megan.gloss@thmedia.com 8 hrs ago

Event: “How to Win a Million Dollars and Beep Glitter! A Mostly True Misadventure,” by Luke Stoffel, book signing and reading.

Times/dates: 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, June 14 (book signing); 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 17 (reading).

Site: River Lights Bookstore, 1098 Main St.

Cost: Free, with books available for purchase.

Online: lucasstoffel.com

Luke Stoffel has always been full of towering aspirations.

Growing up as a gay Catholic schoolboy in Dubuque, the 46-year-old writes on the back of his debut memoir that his imagination “burned with million-dollar dreams and DIY hustles. Whether gaming McDonald’s Monopoly or chasing the missing Cap’n Crunch, no scheme was too ridiculous, no shortcut too far-fetched.”With his little sister in tow, his trusty Hustler bike and often nursing a bloody nose from his antics on the playground, Stoffel’s goals only grew more mountainous.After embarking upon musical theater in high school and graduating from Iowa State University in 2001, he moved to New York City and landed on Broadway. Later, he swapped everything for a life in Paris, got cursed by a Hawaiian god and traveled throughout more than 40 countries, which inspired a range of bold and colorful contemporary paintings that captured his views on the spiritual and sacred.

He has had his award-winning work featured in the New York Times and Huffington Post, among other publications; showcased at prestigious New York City venues; and even completed a commissioned piece for Ralph Lauren’s daughter.“I was always looking for that next thing that was going to make me a success,” Stoffel said in a phone interview. “And through it, I found failures. A lot of failures. But I also stumbled upon some surprising successes.”As Stoffel also writes, it proved that “sometimes the journey is better than the jackpot. Because maybe, just maybe, there’s still a million-dollar prize out there waiting to be won.”Earlier this year, Stoffel dipped his toes into yet another venture, releasing his first book, a memoir titled, “How to Win a Million Dollars and Beep Glitter! A Mostly True Misadventure.

”The “cautionary fairy tale” documents his middle class misadventures through failure and success, all on the premise of “how to win a million dollars.”“I’m not what I would call a writer,” Stoffel said, with a laugh. “But I started writing down stories I remembered from my childhood in 2016 and continuing to cobble them together over the next almost 10 years, as I had jobs and lost jobs and embarked upon many side hustles as a working artist, all the time. And it turned into something magical. It’s really a story about ambition and trying as hard as you can, even when obstacles are put in your way. It’s vulnerable, but I tried to approach it in a humorous and fun way.

”With rainbow-colored page edges, the book also ties in 1980s nostalgia, opening with a “Book It!” pin photo and a single gold star to “redeem for a free personal pan pizza at any participating Pizza Hut!”It also contains inspiring quotes, stickers; and pages of family photos, his artwork and images from his travels across the globe.Upon its release, the book became an Amazon No. 1 best-seller.Stoffel will return to his Dubuque stomping grounds for a book signing from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 14; followed by a reading at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 17. Both will take place at River Lights Bookstore in Dubuque.

“Promoting the book has been one of my favorite parts of this process,” he said.Reviews for the book have been positive.Kirkus Reviews wrote, “This is a raucously funny book, with raffish prose full of self-deprecating humor regarding the distance between exalted pretensions and awkward reality. The result is a luminous tribute to the inestimable value of not quite getting what you want.

”Additionally, Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “The combination of memoir with a perceptive judgment of America’s often-empty vision of success is powerful”; with Midwest Book Review adding, “Readers who may have thought ‘Catcher in the Rye’ and other coming-of-age stories held wry humor along with insights will find these classics must take a step back for contemporary authors such as Luke Stoffel.

”Stoffel is in the process of authoring his second book, “In Over Your Head,” a journey not about finding oneself, but about “watching the life you built collapse — online, on camera and underwater — and realizing: You are what you repeat.”“I’ve been surprised at the success of it,” Stoffel said of his debut effort. “But really, I think people identify with it because we’re all in that place at different stages of our lives, trying to get ahead in life. Especially growing up as a gay kid in a Catholic school in Dubuque, things were very hard at times. I wanted to be sure to share where this kid came from and how he dared to dream his own reality.”